


A Time to Laugh

by bluemoodblue



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Happy moments - Freeform, bittersweet fluff, i'll add more character tags as/if needed, in the midst of tragedy, named apprentice, snapshots of julian's relationship with the apprentice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 15:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16642853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoodblue/pseuds/bluemoodblue
Summary: Here at the end of everything, in a tiny clinic fighting the death of a city, a doctor and his apprentice find time for happiness.





	A Time to Laugh

**Author's Note:**

> A very special thanks to malevolentmango and Emily_the_Almighty for their support and help! 
> 
> My intention is for this fic to be a series of good moments in Julian's clinic during the plague - while I know how I want the ending to happen, I'm open to any suggestions you might have for the moments in between!

The worst curse for a doctor, Julian Devorak thinks, is to live through a plague.

He does what he can for them. He likes to think he prolongs their life, or makes their final days more comfortable, but it never feels like enough. Maybe what he does is worthwhile and maybe it's not; he's not sure what else to do besides keep trying, even on days like today.

Mira is quiet, but he can sense when she's crept up behind him to stare over his shoulder. The journal page in front of him is astoundingly empty for the kind of day they've had. Julian is running out of ways to put it into words.

"You should write about Brundle tripping that snake oil salesman," Mira leans closer and whispers, and Julian snorts. A highlight, truly, to see that slimy, odious man on his ass in the street whether by accident or design. It might be silly to give Brundle that much credit, but Julian would swear that the dog had a particularly sneaky, smug look to her afterwards.

"This journal is for medical research," Julian insists, but he's grinning and leaning back in his chair.

"Hmmm. I'm sure the medical community will be enthralled by your educational illustrations." She taps a corner of the page where there's a doodle of a crow.

"Yes, well," Julian stumbles. She has a knack for catching him daydreaming. He'd erase the thing but it's in ink and Mira has already seen it anyway - and if anyone can ever find value in these journals, it will probably be after both of them are long gone. No need to defend what he includes if he’s not there when it’s read.

She's grinning at him, teasing. "Leave it. It adds a little bit of whimsy to all of that dry science." And then she pulls up a chair next to him and collapses into it with a deep, telling sigh. He doesn't have look at Mira to know the expression on her face or the look in her eyes. Julian is sure he looks just the same. "Whimsy is... good."

"Even now?"

"Especially now." She leans over and looks at him, a tired smile on her face. "We need to remember what we're living for, you know?"

Mira was an unexpected blessing. She stormed into Julian's clinic in a fit of righteous anger one day and insisted that she wouldn't leave until he agreed to teach her. She was defiant and stubborn and taken completely off-guard when Julian took her on as an apprentice in the following few seconds. "I could use whatever help you can give me," he admitted.

It wasn't until she sent a bottle floating to him from across the room two days later that he learned she was already a skilled magician. She insisted, in a tone that was already exasperated and allowed for no argument, that she would be more help in a clinic than with magic alone. He didn't argue with her.

And every so often, she reminds him of how much he needs her.

"We can do better than a doodle, don't you think?" Julian pushes his chair back, stands up in spite of the aching muscles, and holds out a hand to Mira. She stares at it for a moment, and then up at him.

"What are you thinking about, Julian?"

"Dance with me."

She laughs, startled. "What? Why? I'm too tired for dancing."

He grins and performs an ungraceful twirl. His bow to Mira's applause is much more elegant, and filled with an excess of flourishes. Over the top, some might say - Mira has said - but entirely true to who he is as a person. "Too tired for whimsy?"

Mira rolls her eyes, but she also takes his hand. "I guess I'm never too tired for whimsy."

They aren't fantastic dancers. They'll never clear a dance floor or hold an audience's rapt attention, but that's okay - it's just the two of them in the clinic, dodging tables and easily-broken supplies. No one's there to watch, and it's just as well - it's not likely that either of them would have noticed if someone had walked in.

And this, Julian thinks, holding her close, _this_ is something worth living for. Worth fighting a plague for, against ridiculously bad odds. It's the way Mira smiles when he spins her and she looks back at him over her shoulder. It's the way that the worry and exhaustion of the day is melting off of his shoulders. It's knowing that he'll regret breaking those bottles from bumping into that shelf in the morning but still reveling in the chance to laugh together, something that the two of them don't often have.

This something isn't the lofty goal of saving lives, but it's something worth protecting. It's fleeting and fragile. It's precious, Julian thinks, looking at Mira's flushed, tired grin. Seeing her smile like that, seeing her happy, is something worth his time. Being happy with her right now is going to be a shining light of memory some day, when he really needs it.

"Well," Mira says, still smiling, "If I wasn't tired before, I'm definitely tired now. Which means you must be dead on your feet."

He will be. Right now he just feels light. "Hope I haven't, uh, kept you too long. I know the shop needs your attention, too."

She shrugs. She's been spending less and less time there, more focused on the plague and helping in the clinic than trying to keep her business going, but she doesn't talk about that much. Julian won't bring it up until she does; he's happy to have her, and he has the strange fear that if he questions her presence in his life too harshly, it'll be gone. "I think I'd rather be here, if I'm being honest. The shop is... pretty quiet, these days."

And he thinks it, even if he doesn't say it. _"You could stay."_ There's an extra cot upstairs, but that's not what he means and they'd both know it. It's too soon, but maybe. Eventually. One day when Julian feels braver and Mira smiles at him like that again. "Well. Hm. Someday soon it'll be this place that's quiet, and I'll have to come to you instead."

Mira grins. "I'd like that. Someday soon." She collects her things and pauses to look back at him at the door. "Goodnight, Julian."

"Goodnight, Mira." And then, when she's through the door and walking down the street: "Thank you for the reminder."


End file.
